Listening at Keyholes
by Beagairbheag
Summary: Set when Jane is ill at Netherfield. Bingley and Darcy overhear a conversation that brings a couple of things to light. Reviews appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

My second P&P fic which I hope you will enjoy. Reviews are always appreciated and, as usual, sorry for the grammer. I'm working on it and I _think_ its getting better. This is just a single chapter story but look out over the next month or so for more.

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With the gentlemen being out shooting, again, there was not a lot that Elizabeth Bennet could do to occupy her time. 

Ms Bingley and Mrs Hurst where not nurse maids and their concern for Jane's health only went so far. Today it had only been ten minutes before the ladies of the household had remembered important tasks that needed their direct attention and had promptly left.

If she had to be honest Elizabeth didn't mind in the slightest and was frankly glad that she didn't have to spend longer in the sisters company than was necessary, meal times where trying enough as it was.

Having exhausted the libraries meagre selection of books, Elizabeth had returned to her sisters room to find Jane awake and in better spirits than she had been in the day before.

"Oh Jane you are awake. You should have had a servant come and find me" Elizabeth said as she entered the room and found her sister awake.

"There was no need Lizzy, I enjoyed the peace and quiet"

"Shall I go away again?" teased Elizabeth "Do you no longer care to have my company?"

"Do not be silly Lizzy. You have been taking too much upon yourself over the last few days, I thought you would like a little time to yourself" Jane said weakly from her bed as she sat herself upright.

"Jane, I have had too much time to myself" Elizabeth said sitting down on the end of the bed.

As the two Bennet sisters continued to chat, the gentlemen had returned from the shooting early due to an unfortunate circumstance and where making there way separately through the household.

Fitzwilliam Darcy had returned to his room, dropped of his gear and changed out of his muddy boots before heading out of his door and down the corridor. He was about to descend the staircase when a glance to the right alerted him to Charles' presence.

As far as Darcy was aware, Charles Bingley was at that moment hanging about outside the door of Miss Jane Bingley and did not seem to be making any advances or retreats.

"Bingley what are you..." he began.

"Shhhh" Bingley said turning to him briefly before turning back to the door.

"Charles?"

"They sound so different to my sisters"

"Pardon?"

"Listen to them" here Charles paused and Darcy could hear light laughter from within the room and a few coughs from Miss Jane.

"You shouldn't be listening in, someone may come along at any moment or they may leave the room. Can you imagine what it would be like to be found here?" Darcy hissed at him.

Charles seemed to take notice of this and abruptly straightened before walking a few paces to the left and opening the next door along from Miss Bennet's room and entering.

"Charles! What in the name of G-d are you doing?" said Darcy as he followed him into the room and shut the door behind him.

Why Charles had entered this room was made instantly clear to Darcy as he heard Miss Bennet speak.

"And how is Mr Darcy? Has he improved any?"

Looking at Charles, Darcy raised his eyebrows and took a seat on the bed as he awaited Miss Elizabeth's reply.

"I believe I could safely say that even if I spent a life time in Mr Darcy's company, which I am happy to say will never happen, I doubt he would improve any. If you are inquiring after his general well being then I can inform you that he seems well enough" Elizabeth replied to her sister as she got up, off the bed and walked to the window.

"Perhaps Mr Darcy does not do well amongst strangers Lizzy. I find it hard to imagine how he became friends with Mr Bingley if he was not was a nice gentleman"

"I know your character Jane and I can see that you are determined to think well of Mr Bingley and include Mr Darcy in that estimation but I can not see it"

"You are just annoyed that he slighted you that night of the dance" Jane said watching her sister pace about the room.

"Ha! The dance would have been amusing but the partner would not. No I stand by my words to mama the other night, I can safely promise you that I will never dance with Mr Darcy"

On their side of the door Charles Bingley's eyebrows disappeared into his hair line as he turn to look at Darcy, who himself was sitting with a stunned expression on his face.

Bingley took a seat on an old green leather chair and smiled to himself. Although eves dropping was by no means a respectable past time, the Bennet sisters sounded, and said things, so different from his own sisters that he was drawn to their voices and their laughter.

Looking at Darcy, Bingley thought it might to do him good as well.

Darcy on the other hand was dumbfounded. She didn't want to dance with him? Everyone wanted to dance with him. He was forever fending off perspective dance partners at balls and assemblies. What made this woman any different?

He would be the perfect catch for her. Rich, with his own property (including a house in town) and a good family name. She had no money to her name, no connections, compared to him she was nothing and _she_ _didn't want to dance with him?_

"I do not think there will be another opportunity to dance with him anyway. No doubt some piece of important business, or simply the lack of society, will draw him back to either London or Derbyshire"

"If it does then I will be sad to lose his company"

"You have hardly been in his company Jane"

"No more than you and yet you are determined to think ill of him" countered Jane

"Perhaps I am. He has done nothing to make me think well of him"

"He has been perfectly polite"

"Not as polite and charming as Mr Bingley"

"Yes but Lizzy, they are two different men with two different personalities. I would be shocked if they where entirely alike. We two are different are we not? And yet we got on well"

"I think that is slightly different Jane"

"What ever the case might be, at least you do not have mama pushing you towards him at every step" Jane said laying her head back on the pillow

Reaching out her hand Elizabeth took her sisters hand in her own and gave it a squeeze.

"Is she really being that difficult?"

"You know what she is like Lizzy. I just wish she would let me make my own decisions for once"

"I shudder to think what others think of mama" said Elizabeth "At least those who live round us have known what she is like. Mr Bingley can not and I'm sure his sister's have put into his head just what type of person she is"

"Lizzy! Surely they would have done no such thing. I know you do not like them but there can be no reason to speak of them so cruelly and in their own brothers house"

Their own brother was at that time sitting in the adjoining room and privately agreeing with Miss Elizabeth. His sisters did not look favourably on Mrs Bennet, nor any other of the Bennet family. Had they not hinted at such this morning at breakfast?

Miss Elizabeth's next question startled him out of his musings.

"And what are your feelings on the man himself?"

"I do not know what you are talking about Lizzy"

"Do not be coy with me, my dear sister"

A slight pause then.

"I must admit that I like him very much"

In the other room Darcy heard this and he immediately sought out Bingley and found that he was staring straight back at Darcy with the biggest grin on his face Darcy had ever seen.

"_Here we go again" _he thought to himself.

"Stop smiling like that Lizzy, you know it is too soon in the acquaintance to be thinking about anything other than a friendship between our family and his. Though mama seems to think otherwise"

"Jane you have got to stop listening to everything mama says. It will do you no good. Just let things progress naturally and I will help to distract her" said Elizabeth with a smile.

"And just how do you propose to do that?"

"By telling her I have an secret admirer of course and that I can not figure out who it is"

Jane could be heard laughing weakly.

"Do not be silly Elizabeth"

"I will be serious for a moment then. If you truly like Mr Bingley Jane, then you should give him some hint of your feelings"

"I do not want to seen as fawning over him like a London lady, newly out and in search of a husband"

"Yes but you also do not want him to think you do not care at all. If done with care I do not think he will think of you as a brazen hussy"

"Lizzy!"

"Oh Jane I am only teasing" said Elizabeth letting go of her sisters hand and tucking her in more firmly "You are tired, I'll wake you in time for dinner. You need to start eating properly otherwise we shall never get home"

"I shall do my best"

Bending down Elizabeth gave her sister a kiss on her forehead before leaving her to rest. Leaving the room she pulled the door closed and made her way to the library. Perhaps someone had returned a book they where reading and she hoped that if Jane, when Jane, became the mistress of Netherfield she would see to the library for it was in such a dreadful state.

Hearing the door close in the other room Bingley stood up and motioned to Darcy. Darcy on the other hand was quite inclined to remain where he was, going over the conversation of the Bennet sisters in his head.

Bingley was however insistent and the two very quietly left the spare bedroom, after first checking that the coast was clear, before heading downstairs and finally outside.

"Well?" asked Bingley after they had come to a halt underneath a tall chestnut tree

"Well what Charles?"

"What did you make of that?"

"I really don't know"

"Do you believe Miss Bennet really has feelings for me?"

"She said so herself didn't she? Though I would not expect her to declare her undying love to you tomorrow"

"Don't be silly Darcy but in time, after she has got to know me and I her. Do you think there is a chance, if I proposed, she might accept?"

"Bingley you've known the woman for a week and already you are talking about marriage!"

"She is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with Darcy and don't bother asking how I know because I just do. When you meet the woman you will marry, you will just know"

"I doubt I will start imagining proposing after just a weeks acquaintance"

"No. It will probably take you months to finally listen to what your heart and mind are telling you"

"Bingley"

"You know what this means though?"

"No, what?"

"That Miss Elizabeth heard what you said about her that night of the assembly. Which I have to say Darcy, was harsh"

"You know I am not in a good mood during social functions"

"Yes but there, there was no one badgering you, except me. No young ladies with the ink on their school leaving certificates still wet begging for a dance, no matchmaking mothers, apart from Mrs Bennet and it seems as if you have already put yourself in that ladies bad books and no expectant family members"

Darcy walked about under the tree and thought about the real reason he had been in a bad mood, Caroline. She had be on at him all day for a dance and tried to secure a second. Surely even in his backwater town there would be some significance in dancing two dances with the same lady.

"I still don't like them" Darcy said finally. He stopped his walking and turned to face Bingley directly. "What are you going to do now?" he asked

"Nothing" said Bingley

"Nothing?"

"Well not nothing but nothing different from what I was going to do anyway"

"Which is?"

"Secure Miss Jane Bennett's affections, ask her to court me and then ask her to marry me. Quite simple really" Bingley said with a smile upon his face "Just because I know she has some feelings for me does not mean I am going to stopping trying to gain hers"

Darcy sighed and realised that his friend, for once in his life, was deadly serious about a young lady and nothing that he could say or do would change his mind. So why try?

"What are you going to do?" Bingley asked Darcy as they started to walk back to the house.

"About what?"

"About Miss Elizabeth"

"What about her?"

"Are you going to leave her with a mistaken view of your character?"

"I do not see what I could do to change it and I don't see why I should. If she wants to think that way then let her be"

"But if I do marry Jane then the two of you will be in close contact with each other, I can not do with the two of you at odds with each other"

"I assure you Bingley that I will be perfectly civil towards Miss Elizabeth and the rest of the Bennet clan. You can have no worries on my side"

"If you say so Darce"

"You wont"

"No, you will just stand in the corner being anti social. I'm sure that if you and Miss Elizabeth actually spent some time in each others company, you would get on well" Bingley said as they reached the door.

"Miss Elizabeth and myself? Get along? I sincerely doubt it"


	2. Chapter 2

I know I said this was a one shot but I feel like continuing.

People have mentioned that the situation seems unlikely. I agree to an extent but I have read a lot of Jane Austen fan fiction and there are a lot of less likely situations out there. This is fan fiction though and anything can, and will happen.

And yes, Darcy did admire Elizabeth from very early on but he was unlikely to say anything about it to Bingley. Especially if he thought the family was beneath him and was trying to prevent Bingley from becoming too attached to Jane. Remember his struggles!

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Darcy sat alone in Bingley's pitiful excuse for a library that evening. A small glass of port held in the his right hand while the left propped up his chin, his elbow resting on the side of the large ornate, but very comfy, chair as he gazed into the dwindling fire. A candle burned on the small table set to his left and his bottle of port, that had been full when he had opened it and was now down to the half way mark, sat next to it. 

He had spent the last three hours alone, hiding out in the library. Though he doubted it should be called as such. A library generally suggested that there would be books and there was a severe lack of said objects in this one.

He was hiding mainly from Miss Bingley, who had fawned over him at dinner and afterwards, but also from anyone else he might meet. Bingley was almost skipping round the house after the earlier revelations and could not keep the smile from his face; it was beginning to make Darcy feel quite nauseous since he had not heard such glowing reports about himself.

He also had no desire to run into Miss Elizabeth. No matter what he had told Bingley earlier, he had been affected by her words and probably more than he was willing to admit.

Why should he care what she thought of him though? In a month or two, and perhaps sooner, he would be far away from this part of the country and would hopefully never set foot in it again. It was however, looking more and more likely that he would have to return for a wedding unless there was some way to put a stop to that.

Taking a sip from his glass, Darcy had to admit that Miss Bennet did perhaps have a lot to recommend her and even more after over hearing what they had earlier on in the afternoon. He shook his head, gentlemen had no right listening in to the conversations of ladies, especially ones held behind clsed doors. Even when one wished just to hear their laughter, as it was so unusual in any household that held the Bingley sisters.

The main door to the library opened suddenly just then and a strong breeze entered the room, whipping at his coat tails and putting out the candle that he had placed on the table beside him, its wick half gone.

"Blast" Darcy cursed, getting up from his seat to try and fid the matches that where situated on the mantle piece.

"I beg your pardon Sir" came a voice from by the door. A glow came from the same area and moved with the stranger as she, and he knew it was a female from the sound of her voice, walked into the room towards him.

"Miss Bennet" he replied with a short curt bow of his head as she dipped her candle to meet with his, lighting the wick and bringing extra light into the room.

"I apologise for the intrusion Sir, I am merely in search of some night time reading and will not impede on your time for any longer than is necessary" she said moving to where the book cases stood, their shelves less than half full, and began to browse.

Darcy watched her move about the room and took a sip of his port, pondering what to do. Unable to do anything else at that point, he seated himself back down and took his glass in his hand once more.

"You wil not find much," he said at last, setting his glass down and sitting a little straighter. "His father was not an avid reader and Bingley has yet to find the time to increase his collection, though he is always speaking of doing such"

"I read a great many things Sir," she replied, as she lifted one from the shelf and began to leaf through its many pages. Elizabeth was a little unnerved, she doubted she had ever heard him utter so many words at once "I'm sure I will find something to amuse me"

"I do not doubt that Miss Bennet. Though I too read a great deal, I find it difficult to find something to amuse me within Bingley's collection"

"Are these tomes more suited to sending one to sleep?" she enquired as she turned to look at him "For it is that type I am particularly interested in"

He stood as she spoke and came to stand next to her by the rows of lonely books. Selecting one, he handed it to her.

"Miss Bingley," he said as she took it from his hand "is extremely fond of that one though I do not believe you will like it very much"

Looking down at the cover and title, Elizabeth merely raised her eyebrows and a small hint of blush could be seen across her cheeks.

"Thank you for your suggestion Mr Darcy but I do believe," she said, placing one book down and picking up another "That I shall take this one instead. Goodnight"

And with that she left, leaving behind a fairly stunned Darcy. He took another look again at the title of the book he had suggested as a remedy against insomnia and thought over what he had said, and at once felt slapping himself over the head.

"_Of all the stupid things to say Darcy" _he thought to himself as he sat heavily in the chair and downed his remaining port, only to fill the glass up again and take a more gentlemanlike sip. The liquid burning his throat in a manner he found pleasing, working its chemical magic on his senses and dulling them.

He concluded that it must have been the alcohol that had caused him to speak in such a way. He thought she would have seen it as a joke but he had clearly been mistaken and now she had new arsenal to pelt his character with.

He looked back over to where the books sat, laying side by side. Not supported as they should by their brothers and sisters, standing tall, but laying in pitiful heaps on their sides, their titles in full view.

Darcy felt his eyes caught by one book in particular and looked away. Making his mind up, he stood up and rebottled the remaining port from his glass. Taking what was left of the candle, he left the room and closed the door behind him.

The golden embossed title of "A Lady's Guide to Refinement" sat twinkling in the fire light.


End file.
